Air brake



"Oct, 3l, 1939. c. A. CAMPBELL AIRBRAKE Filed Nov. 21, 1938 III,

Cttornegs IIIIIllll/llllllllllll 4ledental Octal, 1939 'UNITED' STATES poration of New Jersey Application November 21,1938, serial Na. 241,736 6 claims. (c1. soa-ss) This invention relates to air brakes, and particularly to means for preventing the entrance of dust around the piston rod guides of brake cylinders.

In recent years the demand fora higher standard of brake perfomance on railroad trains has led to the adoption of devices intended to prevent the entrance of dust andv grit around the tubular piston rod-into the brake cylinder. The purpose was to reduce the wear on the packing leather of the piston and thus reduce brake cylinder leakage. The problem is complicated by the fact that such a, device can be given only limited maintenance attention and consequently must be eective and highly durable.

The first scheme to go into extensive commercial use involved what was virtually a packedgrease lubricated fioint with metallic scraping rings designed to remove mud and gritffrom. the rod as it returned through the guide during a release of the brakes. 7

These devices have demonstrated convincingly the value of dustexclusiombut their initial cost has been undesirably high, wear has proved to be unexpectedly severe and dust exclusion after even moderate wear is unsatisfactory. The primary source of trouble seems to be that the grease used for lubrication causes dust-to adhere and the adhering `dust causes rapiddestructive wear of the excluder.

In the meantime a radical change in braking practice has commenced' and is already increasing greatly the need for an efiicient dust excluder on passenger trains.I This is the practice' of mounting a plurality of brake cylinders (sometimes as many as four) directly on the truck instead of using one brake cylinder per carfsuch brake cylinder being mounted beneath the car body. The effect of truck mounting is to bring the brake cylinder close to the roadbed and hence intoa very dusty zone, and at thesame l time to increase the number of units which must be protected. Consequently, the need for the'dust excluder is increased and the economic importanoelof an inexpensive dust excluder is emphasized.

Applicant-has become convinced that the con- K, ditions of service', are so severe, and the possible maintenanceishso poor, that a packed joint around the -pujsl'rlro'd is impracticable. Hence some vother solution must be found.

r -'The present invention is based on abandonmentof a packed joint altogether, and the substitution for packing of a ,porous filter. This lter is preferably made of felt and the follower which clamps the filter around the rod is so formed-as to cause air flow through the felt filter in preference to flow between the felt filter and the rod. The theory underlying this is that the lter must trap ne dust when air flows inwardly during the release of the brakes and vsupport this dust so that all or most of it will be blown out during the next brake application.

'Theefl'ect is to prevent progressive accumula- -"tion of dust in the. filter. Experience has demon- 10 strated that the lter retains a small quantity of fine dust in the outer surface zone, the quantity being so small that it serves merely to keep the rod burnished without causing any appreciable wear. l To demonstrate the operating characterisucs of filter type excluders two cylinders were mounted on the same truck, in comparable positions one cylinder equipped with the prior art excluder and the other with the filter type of excluder. Ilihis lpermitted comparison while operating simultaneously under conditions. which were as near identical for both devices as could be had.4 'Ihis test under actual service on the road has demonstrated that the prior art excluder will be worn to destruction. before the filter type of excluder shows any appreciable wear. The tests were made in high speed seriiice and over road bed where dust and grit conditions are notoriously had, so that the utility of the lter type of excluder is clearly established.

Preferred embodiments of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawing in which- Fig. 1 is an elevation of a brake cylinder hav- 35 ing the invention applied, parts being broken away tol show the construction of the piston rod guide.

'Flg. 2 is afragmentary view of the piston rod guide shown in axial section on an enlarged 40 scale and indicating` how dust is trapped inthe lter ring.

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2 but showing a modified construction.

Referring to Fig. ;1, 6 represents the brake 45 cylinder which is provided with mounting pads 1; The part 8 is the so-called non-pressure head which carries the pistonlrod guide. -The piston is indicated in dotted lines at 9 and is rigidly connected with the tubular piston rod II. The return spring I2 surrounds the'tubular piston rodand reacts between the piston 9 and a follower `I3 here shown as formed of pressed steel. I

Inward motion of "the tubular piston rod II is limited by a stop ringl Il which is held in' place 66 by staking screws I5 veach provided with a lock washer I6. The ring I4 arrests inward motion so that the piston 9 does not go clear to the cylinder head and so the ring I4 acts to protect the rod guide when the piston is in brake releasing position as shown in Fig. 1

The opening in the non-pressure head 8 indicated at I 1 is slightly larger than the tubular piston rod II and does not guide the rod. 0n the contrary the rod is guided by a sleeve-like portion `|8 of the follower I3 and the follower is guided in the non-pressure head 8. The forward end of the non-pressure head 8 and the forward face of the follower I8 are so shaped as to afford a generally triangular chamber in which is mounted the filter ring I9. The ring I8 is formed of a good grade of felt which may be chemically treated to` resist water. The felt ring is initially rectangular in cross section so that when it is in its operative position as indicated in the drawing its outer periphery is much more closely compressed than is its inner portion which contacts the tubular rod II.

The follower is ported at 2I and these ports are outside the outer periphery of the filter ring. Since the return spring I2 reacts against the follower I3 this spring serves to Ldevelop on the filter the desired compressive stress.

'I'he eifect is to compress the filter quite markedly particularly in its outer marginal region and to crowd lt against the tubular rod I I so that air entering at `I`| will not flow between the felt ring' and the rod but will ow outwardly obliquely through the ring toward the ports 2 I. From this it follows that any Vdust entering with the air will be trapped by the felt ring. In Fig. 2 the shading-22 indicates dust trapped in the felt ring.

While the felt ring I8 serves to a limited extent as a breather it is not desired to emphasize this effect and consequently use is .made of the customary breather port indicated at 28 the port"4 being protected by a dust arresting fllter disc indicated in dottedlinesat 2l. This lter disc am breather conform to the construction shown in my Patent No. 2,135,100, November 1, 1938.

In Fig. 3 a slightly modified construction is shown in which .the follower is formed by casting instead of being formed of pressedl steel. Parts in Fig. 3 which correspond to. parts in Figs. 1 and 2 are given the same reference numbers with 'the Buishins The essential difference n is that the ports 2Ia take the forms of peripheral distin letter a.

grooves or utes.

'I'he important characteristic. of the construction dcribed is, that while the felt ring does to a certain extent retard the flow of air, itis not a packing and does'not form a packed joint. 0n the contrary it serves to a limited extent as a breather which traps any dust entering with inflowing air and later tends to reject and 'discharge such dust when the air current reverses and flows ou ward.

As a consequence the felt is eifective to resist the entrance of dust. The small amount of dust which remains in the\felt is only moderately v abrasive. Consequently the tubular rod Il is not -guide, said piston dividingthe cylinder into a working space in which brake actuating pres'- sures vare developed. and an idle space on the rod side of the Lpiston to and from which the piston tends to draw and displace atmospheric air as it i moves; and a dust excluder associated with said rod guide and comprising a brous filter ring seating against said rod and guide and flow directing means for causing air ow tending to occur between said rod and guide to pass through said filter ring. y

2. The combination of a. brake cylinder having a head structure including means forming a piston rod guide with associated gland and follower; a piston having a rod extending through said guide, said Vpiston dividing the cylinder into a working space in which brake actuating pressures are developed, and an idle space on the rod side of the piston to and from which the piston tends to draw and displace atmospheric air as it moves; a dust excluder mounted in said gland, associated with said rod guide and comprising a fibrous filter ring seating against said `rod; and yielding means reacting in the follower to compress the filtering, the gland and follower being so formed as to wedge the ring toward the rod.. and to favor flow through the lter of air tendingto ow between the rod and guide.

3. The combination deflned in claim 1 on -which the lter is a felt ring.

4. The combination defined in claim I on which the filter is a ring of felt treated to repel water. 5. The combination defined in claim 2 in which the illter,` is a ring of felt which prior to compression by the follower is approximately Arectangular in cross section, whereby the wedging action exerted thereon compresses the outer peripheral portion of the ring more markedly than the inner portion. f

6. The combination with the structure of claim l. of ow retarding means for permitting a breathing flow of air to vand from said idle space, whereby the tendency of air to flow between the rod and guide is reduced.

CHRLEB A. CAMPBELL.

CERTIFIcATE oF co'RREcTioN.- Patent No. 2,177,767.' october '511 ,1959" mmRLEsA A. CAMPBELL.

it is hereby certified that error` appears :ln the `px'lrxtecspec i.flc'atzln of the above numbered patent requiring coz'rectzleV a s4l follows: .Page 2, second column, line )40, claim 2, for the word "filterlhvg" read filter ring; yarid that the said'Letters Potent shoulgbe redwith this correctionlftherel in that the same may conform tothe record of the casefin the yatet Off 1ce.

signed and sealed this 5th day of November, A; "n". 1959.

Henry' Van `Airedale (Scarl) Acting Comnissionerof Patents. 

